Seniors told to support Shoaib Malik or face axe

By Khalid Hussain

KARACHI: Pakistani cricket bosses have recently decided that senior players would only be retained in the national team if they swore allegiance to new captain Shoaib Malik.

Well-placed sources told ‘The News’ that some of the senior players including seasoned batsman Younis Khan are not happy with the appointment of Shoaib Malik as captain but the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is seeking assurances from them that they would fully support the young all-rounder in his tenure that would at least last till the end of this year.

The PCB has made it public that only players proving their form and fitness and showing complete discipline would be considered for selection in the Pakistan. Sources said that for the senior players like the team’s premier batsmen Younis and Mohammad Yousuf, star fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar, all-rounders Shahid Afridi and Abdul Razzaq there is another more important condition to fulfil to retain a place in the squad — complete and open support for Malik.

The 25-year-old Shoaib Malik was picked by the PCB officials last week to succeed Inzamam-ul-Haq after the World Cup debacle. He was a ‘unanimous choice’ to lead Pakistan after Younis refused a captaincy offer made by the PCB saying that he was unable to cope with the stress that came with the job.

Privately, however, Younis had told his close friends that he was unwilling to lead Pakistan because of the lack of support shown to him by some of the team’s senior players. Malik, 25, is already facing similar problems even before his first international assignment — a three-match One-day International (ODI) series against Sri Lanka in Abu Dhabi next month.

Senior players including Shoaib Akhtar, Afridi and Yousuf have recently announced that they would support Malik’s captaincy but sources say that problems are brewing up in the Pakistan camp.

A PCB official confided with this correspondent that he does feel that there are still a lot of politics among the senior players and that Malik’s tenure as captain won’t be a smooth one. In a bid to minimise any negativity in the Pakistan camp, the Board officials have made it clear to all players that they will have to completely back Malik as their captain.

Sources said that for the senior players the word ‘discipline’ actually meant ‘complete loyalty’ to Malik as the Board has made it clear that it would not tolerate any lack of support shown to the new captain by his players.

By appointing the young Malik as captain, the Board has broken a golden Pakistan cricket rule that suggests that either the most senior or accomplished player should get the captaincy. Malik, a talented all-rounder, does not qualify as there are several more experienced and certainly more accomplished players in the Pakistan team. Already, Younis and Shoaib Akhtar have made themselves unavailable for the series in Abu Dhabi though neither have linked their decision to Malik’s captaincy.